Wilka Kayoko
Director and co-writer of the Namibian film Baxu and the Giants, Florian Schott has scooped yet another award of best director at the Dreamanila International film festival 2020.
Schott is certainly not new to the filmmaking industry, he has been in the industry for 18 years and working all over the world and neither is the award of best director. He achieved it from his first Namibian feature and most successful film, Katutura at the Namibian Theatre and Film Awards 2015.
Baxu and the Giants is a local educational film commissioned by the Legal Assistance Centre to Andrew Botelle with the aim to sensitise young people on the continuous issue of Rhino poaching in rural areas, through the eyes of a nine old girl growing up in a small town Tubuses, in the Erongo Region and the effects it has on the community.
The award is based on the visuals, dialogues, clarity of message on race and respect and most importantly, the careful planning of sets.
“When we were writing the script we did multiple research trips through Namibia and visited many villages for the perfect place for our character of Baxu to live in. In combination with the spectacular mountainous landscapes and fields in Torra Conservancy further up North we found our main setting and with our Production Designer Tanya Stroh, who won a Namibian Film Award for her work on this film, we decided to rebuild the interior of Baxu’s home, a house that is simple but warm and full of love, in a hall at the KCAC in Windhoek.” Schott said.
Having premiered less than a year ago, the film has achieved several awards both nationally and internationally. This includes three Namibian Theatre- and Film Awards (including Best Female Actor for now 10-year-old Camilla Jo-Ann Daries), Best Foreign Native( 2019) at the San Francisco Independent and short film Festival, Best Cinematography best-supporting actor(2019) at the Knysna Film Festival Short Film Awards and Best Cinematography at the Canadian & European Cinematography Awards the same month it premiered.
